Natalie Zea gets to show off her comedic side as she takes on the lead in the TBS hit comedy The Detour.  Created by former Daily Show correspondents Jason Jones and Samantha Bee, the honest and hilariously dark show features the road trip antics of the Parker family – including Zea’s critically-acclaimed Robin, a sexy, outspoken, offbeat mom for the new millennium. The Detour returns for its fourth hit season in 2019. Zea will reprise her role as a director after making her directorial debut in season three as the show’s first woman to helm an episode for the show.

She just wrapped production on the Jack Black-produced comedy thriller Happily, an ensemble independent film also starring Joel McHale, Paul Scheer & Stephen Root.

Best known to television audiences for her memorable role as “Winona Hawkins” on FX’s original series Justified (which she continued to guest on for two additional seasons while starring opposite Kevin Bacon on The Following), Zea has also been seen in Showtime’s White Famous, CBS’ Under the Dome, Showtime’s Californication and HBO’s Hung. Other television credits include The Shield and her popular role as “Karen Darling” in Dirty Sexy Money, among others.

Zea recently starred in the independent films Too Late, Grey Lady and the soon-to-be-released The Fuckit List from Awesomeness Films. One of her most memorable film roles was Will Ferrell's hilarious psychotic ex-girlfriend “Christinith” in The Other Guys.

Zea also hones her creative juices by writing and is currently developing a comedy pilot for a major cable network. 

Originally from Texas, Zea made her way to New York where she earned a scholarship to the prestigious American Music and Dramatic Academy. After completing the program in only two years, Zea landed a role as part of the original cast of Kimberly Peirce’s 1995 short “Boys Don’t Cry,” which later evolved into the Academy Award-winning film by the same name.

Having never lost her love of theater, Zea helped develop Los Angeles’s reputable Lone Star Ensemble, a theater company in which she serves on the Board of Directors. She has a 3-year-old daughter with her husband, actor Travis Schuldt, and lives with them in Los Angeles.

^{Photograph by TJ Mano}